Jessica Hagy draws one of my favorite webcomics, Indexed, and she just released her newest book How to Be Interesting: (In 10 Simple Steps): The book presents excellent advice in Hagy’s simple, clever way — and some of them apply directly to skeptics: Read more
I was a guest on The Thinking Atheist podcast last week and host Seth Andrews uploaded the audio online. Hope I didn’t embarrass myself too badly! (via TheThinkingAtheist) Read more
When I was in college, I performed in a play that offered a satirical look at the Bible. It was funny, there was no controversy, and when it came down to it, the play was actually pretty respectful of the underlying story. You could say similar things about Paul Rudnick’s 1998 play “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,” a play that features a female God and the characters “Adam and Steve” and “Jane and Mabel.” In the second part of the play, the same characters become real couples, living in New York City, coming to terms with their own beliefs. When the play premiered years ago, the New York Times gave it a positive review: Read more
Dale McGowan’s new book Atheism for Dummies arrived at my house last week and I’ve been having a wonderful time leafing through it. The writing is extremely accessible and the book is a thorough, helpful introduction to atheism both as a philosophy and as a movement. If you read this book cover-to-cover, you’d have a very good idea of what sorts of issues atheists are dealing with in our society. Read more
Note: Letter writers’ names are changed to protect their privacy. Dear Richard, I am married to a Catholic spouse. When we were married, I was Catholic too, but became an atheist about 10 years ago. I kept my nonreligious belief to myself for fear of backlash from my husband. A couple of years ago, though, after an argument about evolution he point-blank asked me if I was a “devil worshipper” (his definition of an atheist). Of course I said no… Read more
As American Atheists mentioned two weeks ago, two of the billboards in their current Texas campaign were rejected because they featured local politicians saying dumb things and were deemed “too inflammatory.” But now, one of those billboards (featuring Governor Rick Perry) and another featuring Republican Mike Huckabee are up: [More…] Read more
You’ve read the story by now. The Kansas City Atheist Coalition was rejected by the organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day parade out of “respect for the legacy of St. Patrick.” Interestingly enough, the “Missouri Gay Rodeo Association” met the criteria (PDF), but KCAC did not. Despite getting rejected, the group still set up an Ask an Atheist booth nearby the parade route to help dispel stereotypes and, judging by their signs, it was a rousing success: Read more
Over the past couple of months, I’ve posted about a controversy at Jackson Middle School in Jackson, Ohio. They had a portrait hanging in their school, not of a student or administrator, but of Jesus: Not only that — it had a prominent place in the school: Last month, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and ACLU of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit against the school for its unlawful promotion of religion on behalf of anonymous families who have children in the district. The school is holding the line that they aren’t promoting religion. Instead, the portrait was put up by a student group so to take it down would be a violation of their rights. But, just to be safe, the school is taking a precaution…, Read more
